Thursday, September 4, 2008

Your Mama Hears...

...from several scuttlebutting sources that actin', singin', and songwriting' supa-stah Cher has done sold her mammoth mansion in Malee-boo.

Although we can not currently confirm this particular real estate rumor (don't none of y'all go repeating it like it's gospel now, hear?), Your Mama hears whispered through the Pacific Coast Highway gossip grapevine that Miz Cher's 14,000 square foot Pacific Ocean view abode is in escrow for more than forty million smackers. Not that she needs the clams, but good for her.

Although Your Mama has been hearing whispers and rumors about the Dark Lady of Malee-boo quietly shopping her 1.72 acre estate around for quite some time, the plastic surgery loving sixty two year old mega-celeb only officially listed her 6 bedroom and 7 bathroom Italian Renaissance style residence a few weeks ago amid heaps of hoopla and a formidable $45,000,000 asking price.

Your Mama isn't sure how many properties the Grammy, Emmy and Academy award winning icon owns, but we do know that she's got a doo-plex at the celebrity infested Sierra Towers in West Hollywood as well as a place in London. Now that Cher's strutting her sexy senior citizen stuff in a big show at Caesars Palace, perhaps we'll soon hear word of her shopping for a desert domicile? Maybe. However, Your Mama prefers to imagine Cher livin' large in Las Vegas in a custom designed mansion sized hotel suite where her every wig wearing whim is gleefully carried out by young, noo-bile and uniformed eye candy of the male persuasion.

Iffin the Richie Rich rumored buyer of Miz Cher's behemoth beach bungalow would like a little extra land on which to spread out, a 6.67 acre ocean view parcel di-rectly to the west of her lavish digs has just hit the high-priced Malee-boo market. The lovely but likely quite loud bluff top lot (pictured above) offers considerable frontage on bizzy Pacific Coast Highway, spine tingling views up and down the coast and carries an asking price of $13,800,000. That's just dollars and cents to someone who can afford to snatch up a forty-plus million dollar house that is unlikely to be used more than a few months of the year, right?

rumor has it that the buyer is the founder of True Religion Brand Jeans, Jeff Lubell. Ever since it went public (Nasdaq:TRLG) he's had a big wad'o'cash burning in his thick stitched, embroidered pockets.

I told you it would sell quickly. I don't even like houses that are pastiches of historical styles but her house was truly amazing and to the super rich 40 mil is pocket change. True Religion jeans could easily finance a house like that at $300 a pop!

When one could live on the Italian Riviera or the French or the Dalmatian coast for less, why these ditzy Hollyweird types spend this kind of money on an enclave bordered by a busy highway and with a so so beach I cannot fathom. They could easily jet from LA to France or Italy or whereever, and have a truly beautiful place to live, and that is NOT Maleeebooo.

thats a fairly ugly house and noisy area...the views are bad because the sun blazes directly in your face all afternoon.That house is on a scruffy bluff next to the NOISY pch and far,far from the beach...Not a choice location by any stretch and for that money....Its still stupid money but the top is near.You will see that house sell for 10% of that in a few years.Yes,that house will sell for 4million in a few years.This is the last real estate bubble, baby.

I love Cher and her homes. My all time fav, as I've said before, was the one she shared with Sonny Bono in Holmby Hills. But the one she built at 2727 Benedict Cyn was fab-u-lous! God knows what Eddie Murphy did to it after he bought it. Anyways, the Maliby spread was very exotic, a sort of Bob Mackie as a house - if you will (and no, I won't). BTW non 5:06pm, PCH is not noisy from up on the bluff. Granted the only thing you'll hear is the wind blowing across the chapparal and, well, the helicopters overhead from time to time. But, that's the life we boldface names lead. The Cote D'Azure is simply too far away. Gots to be near the studios. That's how we roll!

I love how some people are acting like this house is sitting on top of the 405/101 interchange. PCH isn't that busy that far out, and even if there was any noise, the house doesn't sit right on the curb.

Methinks some children are just whiny because the house may have sold quickly and for a good price, proving all those naysayers from the other post wrong.

The only people stupid enough to spend that kind of money on this property would have to have inherited the dough. This house was recently built and has no historic or other significance. The land the house is on is very nice with very nice views, but could be duplicated just up or down the coast for a fraction of $40 Million. In fact, Your Mama points out Cher's place sits on just 1.72 acres, where "a 6.67 acre ocean view parcel di-rectly to the west ... offers considerable frontage on bizzy Pacific Coast Highway, spine tingling views up and down the coast and carries an asking price of $13,800,000." So why not buy the 6.67 acres and build your own , better, house for, say, and additional $10 Million? And in this market? Sheesh! There just aren't that many superstupid, superrich people around.

Only a complete idiot would buy Cher digs at anything like her asking price. I won't believe this is happening until it's really sold!

I go by there from time to time and its an ugly eyesore type of complex surrounded by ugly walls and guard gate.Looks like a prison with palm trees.For that price the land is poor and the location sucks.No beach or seclusion.She made out like a bandit.The buyer will be screwed once we get through this recession and his fly by night jeans fad fades into the sunset like all the other one hit wonders(crox,chicos,hot topic et al).

The house was OTT...but it's Cher, so what can one expect? I'm glad that if this sale is legitimate she made out like a bandit...although the buyer will likely be singing 'If I Could Turn Back Time' when it comes time to resell because it's a very 'specific' look.

5 Mill for that place? Get real!The land is worth more than that plus add in the "Cher factor". Sorry folks but rich/famous people are swayed by that kind of stuff. The house has the tallest walls allowed in Malibu...they cannot be built that high again. Cher was taken to court and she won after donating $130,000 to the school district. The house was made out of concrete like a Monestary. Im sure it is sound proof. It also sits at the very back of the property. Ugly? I guess you would than consider almost any historic mansion in Italy as ugly because it was desigend after an Italian Renaisssnce home and done very well...IMHO.

I do sense a bit of anger/jealousy here for some odd reason. Would any of you refuse top price for your abode? I think not...

"However, Your Mama prefers to imagine Cher livin' large in Las Vegas in a custom designed mansion sized hotel suite where her every wig wearing whim is gleefully carried out by young, noo-bile and uniformed eye candy of the male persuasion."

Mama, don't ever change. Yesterday was a long day, and that beautifully worded passage is still making me smile.

I'm actually buying a piece of bank owned real estate myself right now, and it's stressful. Nothing that would even remotely be considered for this blog, but at least it will be ours. Wish me luck.

The housing market bust has not hit the celebrity/high end real estate market. If it did, Candy Spelling would not have just listed her Mega Mansion for $125 million and than bought a $45 million dollar condo. Now that is rediculous for LA!

All manias end the same way.Ridiculously high prices pushed ever higher with big spikes at the top.I can promise you that 45mil for this house will be the highwater mark of this insanity.This is exactly like the internet implosion.How can the rest of the real estate market be in the tank while the high end is exploding up?It is the mania where people think there is a decoupling factor-like there is a seperate universe in the economy or re market.That decoupling theory only exists in bubbles/manias.Think of this the re market explosion up brought all markets up.It didnt bring up only certain sectors.The same thing happens on the way down.MAnias are controlled by psychology and not fundamentals.But they always meet and the current re fundamentals will catch up with the hi end.The hi end here reminds me of the coyote roadrunner cartoon where the high coyote runs of the cliff and keeps going straight across until he looks down and realizes the drop below.

Zillow is for morons. Oh wait..Average Joe brought up Zillow. I guess that is a moot point.

9:21 - Wouldn't the Segal House selling for 29+m be the "high water mark"? It does sit on a busy part of PCH, on much less land, and is much smaller. "High water marks" only matter until something else sells higher......

It's true that the housing bubble will eventually burst into the high end super rich market but not to the extent it has us mere mortals. The person who bought (if they even did ) Cher's abode will never get as much appeciation out of it that she did but they will not loose mega money on the deal. Cher paid around $1 mill for the land well over a decade ago and is rumored to have spent about $10 mill building it. She's been in the house almost 10 years now which is an eternity for her. She normally designs, builds and than sells within 5 years. She's gotta keep movin and groovin...

yes 10:22...i was just using a figure of speech...i guess specifying a time period would be better than price but i am assuming that this home wont be resold within the next 2 years.The recession that is firmly planted in the us is starting to hit global markets-they said the global market was immune to us recession.Guess what there are many people who got killed in financial markets in the last year and the last 2 months especially.MAny hedge funds have imploded as the mania in commodities like oil,steel,nat gas has been chopped by 30-60%.The chinese shanghai index has dropped 60% in the last year alone-yeah,bullet proof china.Titanic,anyone?All those commodity traders/investors and oil people from russia,china have had their heads handed to them in the last 2 months. MAny have lost a large portion of their wealth,many have been wiped out and very few have increased their net worth.The super wealthy have a lot of their money tied up in extreme speculative assets like commodities and RE.Both have gotten killed.Psychologically they will not be in a spending mood going forward.

Word is that Jef Lubell, the supposed buyer of Cher's house, is be driven around in a white Rolls Royce Phantom by Todd Marks of Prudential Beverly Hills. Looks like he's handling an awful lot of heavy hitters these days - just closed a big pocket sale in Bel Air, too.

Trudy, he already looks like a mouthy wannabe know it all dumbass. And if it walks and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.

Joe, 2260 is a dog. It always has been a dog. You are the only person who seems to think it cost 40m to build. I personally think that is bullsh*t. If it cost 40m to build in '94 (which was the last bottom of market), why did it sell for only 3.2m in 96? or 5.3m in '00? And it has been on the market now for what, 3-4 years and no one is willing to pay 9m?

It isn't the market. It is the product.

2260 is a sh*tty product that won't sell until the price is below land value so a developer can afford to clear the lot and start over.

Cher's house is a good product. If it didn't already sell, it WILL sell.

It's not "hi end" It's high end.The "high" end is expanding because the number of rich people is expanding and the planet and it's supply of prime land in prime zip codes is not, in fact a geologist would argue that unless you live in Iceland or on the Big Island of Hawaii land is shrinking due to erosion! Add to the mix many thousands of new rich every year and you have a classic economics 101 of supply and demand. Best zip codes best houses always valuable period!

Oh yeah and the people that bought somewhere out in the desert because it was cheap and and real estate would only ever go up, blah blah blah. Well they were lied to. A cheap house in the wrong zip code will always be just that.

You were lied to if you think that the hi end market will not tank.Nicolas cage and donald trump and numerous others are significantly dropping prices on their mega costly hi end property.The amount of rich people losing their butts in the last 6 months is much greater than the ones who have seen their assets grow.I guess you havent been following commodity prices or the financial markets recently.Even mega rich people slow or stop excessive purchases when they are not making money.

First of all, Justin Timberlake's house isn't for sale so it's of no matter what Zillow says the property is worth.

Secondly, I would be shocked (and appalled) if ANY reputable bank or lending institution is using Zillow to determine the market value of a property either for a home loan, refinance or, really, for anything other than shits and giggles.

Thirdly, I'm sorry, but you clearly don't understand how Zillow's algorithm works in terms of how the site places a "value" on a property and I simply don't have the patience right now to explain it to you. I suspect you won't bother to learn how Zillow works in it's valuations either. Has it ever occurred to you that Zillow's valuation might not be accurate for every property?

No, I didn't think so. Therefore on you go with your silly, fervent and often annoying quoting of Zillow.

I'm starting to think that maybe you work for Zillow. If not, maybe you should.

"If we were, we're not going to be talking about it on a real estate porn site. It isn't relevant. Try one of the "sky is falling" blogs."

Of course its relevant.The last i heard they only take cash in exchange for real estate.How do you think people with 45million of play money get that kind of silly cash?They are invested in financial assets like re,oil,commodities,equities-all of which have been getting crushed.All the russian buyers of real estate get their money from oil.Oil has tanked 30% in just 2months. What happens in financial markets is what happens to re.

Zillow, Trulia, Etc Etc... all admit that their values are often way off, especially in areas like LA, where it is custom to have a street of homes that vary greatly in size, view, finishes, etc.

The values on those sites are only applicable in smaller cities really, in sub-divisions where houses traditionally sell for similar dollar / sq ft values. Areas like LA were tons of factors from high end finishes and views come into play are IMPOSSIBLE FOR TRULIA / ZILLOW TO PRICE UNLESS THEY SAT DOWN AND DID A FULL CMA / APPRAISAL ON EACH HOUSE!

Some of you people are so f'kn stupid it's mind numbing! The sky is falling! The Sky is Falling!

Truth be told, no one knows when this slump will end, but it will. Everyone with a brain who invests in real estate picks up properties in the bad markets. Donald Trump did it in the 90's and he'll do it again. The market is a cycle, is been low... and yes this may be a bigger low than we've seen but it will end and values will go way up again... and you know what... they'll crash again! That's the market! Most of you live in trailers and 1 br apartments and sit here like you are financial saints talking everything up and down, truly showing how fucking stupid you are.

Zillow, Trulia, Etc Etc... all admit that their values are often way off, especially in areas like LA, where it is custom to have a street of homes that vary greatly in size, view, finishes, etc.

The values on those sites are only applicable in smaller cities really, in sub-divisions where houses traditionally sell for similar dollar / sq ft values. Areas like LA were tons of factors from high end finishes and views come into play are IMPOSSIBLE FOR TRULIA / ZILLOW TO PRICE UNLESS THEY SAT DOWN AND DID A FULL CMA / APPRAISAL ON EACH HOUSE!

Some of you people are so f'kn stupid it's mind numbing! The sky is falling! The Sky is Falling!

Truth be told, no one knows when this slump will end, but it will. Everyone with a brain who invests in real estate picks up properties in the bad markets. Donald Trump did it in the 90's and he'll do it again. The market is a cycle, is been low... and yes this may be a bigger low than we've seen but it will end and values will go way up again... and you know what... they'll crash again! That's the market! Most of you live in trailers and 1 br apartments and sit here like you are financial saints talking everything up and down, truly showing how fucking stupid you are.